"Enfield Rifle Measurement Needed" Topic

I've reposted this as the original seems to have caught a TMP bug.

I have been gifted a "Props Department" Enfield Rifle made from a cast of an original weapon which will make a fine piece to hang on the wall.

However, for some reason the barrel was made way over length and needs to be cut down to the proper 39".

My question is where should this distance be measured from? The back of the tang where it's screwed into the top of the stock or what?

As its a one piece moulding I need an external reference point to measure the 39", what's the best place to take it from?

It should be measured from the edge of the bolt once in firing position, so measure from the front of the receiver or breach.

So from the front end of this

Make sense?

Hmmm, methinks I may have the wrong gun however! It's not a Lee Enfield SMLE is it?

If it's the 1857, then measure from the percussion cap nipple

It would be useful to know exactly which Enfield rifle is being referred to.

A jungle carbine has a somewhat shorter barrel than a No. 4:)

Yeps first thing I thought of was the musket! lol…

Sorry everyone!

That's what comes of cross posting from the ACW Board and assuming people will automatically know what I'm talking about. I should have add Musket after Rifle! Doh!

My grandfather used an Enfield Rifle but I'm not quite old enough for it to have been a percussion one! :o)

The gun was cast from an original Tower 1859 version and looks identical to the one in McWong73's photo.

Although, unfortunately while the film company managed to get the wood and the brass work off pretty well, they painted the rest of the metal work black, which is a shame.

The real gun appears not have had its original rammer either, as it has a grooved cylindrical end unlike the cupped one in the photo which I've seen a lot.

The measurement from the nipple sounds good to me it being at the rear of the bore.

The barrel I have doesn't look too different from the photo but the guy who gave it too me put me in doubt as he admitted it was way, way longer than that and he cut it using guess work!

That said using "the nipple" method, which itself is a bit of an estimate, as the gun was cast with the hammer down. I reckon it only needs to lose around 1.25 inches.

Looking at it again, its that suspect rammer which makes things appear longer. The end of it is only showing an inch and a half beyond the brass end piece that's under the barrel.

I just saw "Enfield" and got excited. Growing up my old man had both types of Enfield in his collection.

Looks like the 1853 model. I have one of those;a repro made by Chiappa.

I wouldn't cut it down. It's not a real rifle, it's a prop. If it is altered, that might compromise its value as a prop. What is its provenance? Has it been used on-screen in any significant productions? Once you cut it down, you can't undo it.

Ron

Well may be but as I said its already been cut down once.

The ones used on set in the film it was made for were longer and had the bayonet moulded in position on top of that!

So I don't think it would matter much to trim the rest.

Measure from the breech. That's where the barrel butts up against the stock, and from which the tang extends. IRL, the tang is an extension of the breech plug. The end of the barrel at the breech is threaded, and the breech plug threads into it to make a gas-tight seal. It's designed like this so that the plug/tang combo can be removed for repairs or deep cleaning to the barrel, or removal of encrusted fouling,etc.

The rammer should look like this.

Meant to add: Here's an image of a P53 Enfield breech plug.

If you look closely, you can see the line where the breech pug mates up with the barrel. This is where barrel length was measured from.

Hey Thanks Tim! That's right on the money!

I've seen photo's of the breech plug before and forgot about them completely.

Also, that rammer photo is obviously what the end of the moulded one is supposed to look like but definition has been lost in the casting process, so the cup shape has blended in and the slot got filled with the mix.

As it happens I've yet to undertake any surgery so I'll remesure from the point where metal meets wood you indicated and see how far along the tube 39" gets me!

Tim for the win!

If you mean the Pattern 1853 Enfield rifled musket, then the overall length should be about 55 inches. I wouldn't mic it, production wasn't that precise back then. The Lee-Enfield bolt action .303 rifle began production in 1895.